


With You Here

by CandiedClassics



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Modern AU, Suburban AU, kid keith, kid lance, klance, teenage angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-02-27 06:03:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13241997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CandiedClassics/pseuds/CandiedClassics
Summary: Lance and Keith have always lived in the same small town.It's a wonder they only seem to run into each other every couple of years.But after sharing some of the most important moments in their lives together, they start to find that those moments might just be enough to fall in love with someone.





	1. Kiss Me On The Cheek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "No no, you need more kisses! You're sad so you need kisses all the time. Lots of em!"  
> "I'm not sad."  
> "Then it's working!"

\--------------------------------------

~ When they were 3 years old, they met for the first time ~

\--------------------------------------

           

            "Mama?" Lance looked up at his mother with a questioning gaze, squeezing her hand tighter as a sea of 3 to 5 years olds sped around the room in front of them.

            Gloria Marisol Espinosa McClain considered herself to be a good mother. She worked from home so that she could always keep an eye on her three-year-old son Lance, and she showered him with love and life lessons as much as possible.

            When she wasn't able to take care of him, she always had her husband, her brother or one of her two eldest children available to take up the task. She had never been keen about trusting strangers with her children. The way she saw it, no one took care of family better than your family. She almost never hired babysitters and she would have never fathomed the idea of taking her precious ray of sunshine to a daycare center. 

            Until today.

            "Okay pequeño, be good alright? I'll be back to get you soon, I promise." She knelt down and cupped her little boy's cheeks as she kissed his forehead. Lance giggled and held his mother's hands with his own tiny ones. 

            "Mama! Let's play hide n' seek!" He chirped, his overactive mind choosing to ignore the context clues that said his mother couldn't stay. Gloria shook her head sadly.

            "I'm sorry honey, I can't right now. But why don't you ask one of the other kids to play with you? You'll get to practice all day and then, when we go back to our big new house tonight, you'll be the best hide n' seeker ever!"

            Lance's smiled wavered and he looked at the floor, unable to hide his mounting anxiety.

            "But I want you to stay...." 

            "I know dear. But I have to pick up your Aunt Rosa from the airport and Uncle Jorge is busy helping the movers and Phillip and Corina are at their school orientation, and ...I'm sorry. But I promise we will play later tonight. And I'm making empanadas for dinner!" That made Lance smile again and he bounced with excitement. He gave his mother a big hug and when they parted again, she kissed both his cheeks and wiped the budding tears from his eyes.

            "Te amo. Be good." 

            And then she was gone.

            Lance was quick to distract his eager young mind by toddling over to the big dollhouse in the back and starting a dysfunctional game of house with some of the other kids. When he got bored of that, he started scribbling a giant spot of blue on a coloring book page that once held a picture of a daisy. Then after that, he was zooming racecars around the room, running them over the cubby shelves and toy boxes and other kids foreheads. 

            When he'd coasted his red-hot speedster all the way to the quiet corner's shelf of kid’s books, he noticed a boy sitting by himself amongst the beanbag chairs.

            Unlike Lance, this boy was no stranger to being in the daycare.

            Being the son of a single Dad with no close family meant that Keith had little choice but to spend his days in the care of strangers while he father went to work. But despite being a regular visitor, he had yet to make any friends. 

            Most of the kids thought Keith would hit them if they came too close.

            Others thought he was just plain mean.

            Lance thought he looked sad. 

            He tossed his racecar aside and stumbled over to the boy. He said nothing as he flopped down cross-legged on the carpet in front of him, taking notice of the box of plastic animal figurines nearby. 

            Keith had one in his hands already, but seemed to just be fiddling around with it in absent silence. It was supposed to be a lion, but the golden yellow paint was scratched away in multiple spots and the tail looked like a kid had probably chewed it off some time ago.

            Lance reached into the box and pulled out a shark and a hippo, marching them across the carpet towards the other boy's feet and making them speak to one another. 

            " 'I'm hungry! I'm gonna find food!' 

            'I want fish!' 

            'Let's go look for Lion! Maybe he will have food!' 

            'Okay let's--' "

            "What are you doing?" 

            Lance looked up from where he had been tromping the hippo figure over the other boy's knee. 

            Keith wasn't smiling like he had hoped, and looked confused as to why Lance was trying to engage with him at all. Most kids would have walked away at that point, but Lance was the farthest thing from a quitter.

            "Playing animals! You're the Lion, Hippo wants to find you!" He explained. 

            Keith frowned.

            "I don't want to play."

            "Why not?" 

            "Cuz I don't."

            "But that's not fun." 

            "Go away."

            Lance stared at the other boy, unfazed by his cold words. It was the first time he'd been told to 'go away' before and he didn't exactly know what it meant, but he knew that the other boy seemed upset about something. 

            He stared at the hippo and shark toy in his hands before setting them aside. Keith didn't say anything, continuing to stare at the lion figure and pinch the chewed up tail between his fingers. 

            He flinched when Lance leaned over and pressed a messy kiss to his cheek.

            "Why did you do that?" Keith asked, bringing his hand up to his cheek with an even more confused expression as Lance scooted a bit closer to him. 

            "You looked sad."

            "Sad?"

            "Mama always gives me kisses when I'm sad so that I'm happy again."

            Keith frowned and looked away.

            "I don't have a Mom." 

            "You don't?" Lance looked genuinely curious, as he had never met a kid who didn't have a Mom before.

            Keith shook his head. 

            Lance thought about that for a moment.

            "What about your Papa?"

            "Dad kisses me goodnight." He said like that was good enough. Lance looked suddenly put off, his cheeks puffed up in frustration.

            "No no, you need more kisses! You're sad so you need kisses all the time. Lots of em!"

            "I'm not sad." 

            "Then it's working!" Lance grinned and kissed his cheek one more time, to which Keith didn't offer much protest.

            Then Lance was bouncing Mr. Hippo over his leg again and when he asked Mr. Lion for food, Keith smiled and said he had none but that they could go find some together.

            Lance and Keith spent the entire day together, playing animals and cars and dolls and anything else they could think of. Lance even got to show off how good he was at hide n' seek, just as his mother had said.

            Since Mrs. McClain was running a little late, Lance got to stay with Keith till his Dad came to pick him up. When Mr. Kogane arrived, Lance took Keith's hand in his and ran over to scold him for not giving his son enough cheek kisses. Keith blushed and fidgeted the entire time, but only squeezed Lance's hand tighter.

            Mr. Kogane took well to getting a earful from a three year old and when Lance demonstrated how to kiss Keith's cheek properly, he saw his son smile for the first time in months. 

            He pinky swore that he would give Keith more kisses so he would be happier and he thanked Lance for making Keith smile.

            Lance swung their hands back and forth and said that's just what friends were for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is a part of the Klance Writing Event someone started on Voltron amino. 
> 
> God knows if anyone else is actually participating in this but I've decided to. 
> 
> Every week has a prompt and it goes on for 13 weeks total. Me being extra, I decided to make a 13 chapter story out of this while still following the prompts for each.
> 
> We'll see how that goes.
> 
> It's been decently popular on the amino so I figured I may as well start posting it here.
> 
> If you like suburban Klance fluff I got you.


	2. Pull Me In For A Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Who cares?! That was my first kiss!"
> 
> "Well if it matters so much, then pretend it didn't count!"
> 
> "Pretend?! I can't just...you....you're such a butthead!"

\--------------------------------------

~ When they were 7, they had their first kiss ~

\--------------------------------------

 

            Lance loved going to the park. 

            Even in his small town in Arizona, the park was always full of kids of all ages, many of which he hadn't met before. All of them were potential friends, and Lance loved to make friends. 

            His best friend was a boy named Hunk that he had met at the park the year before. The boy had been crying about having dropped his bake-sale cookie on the ground, so Lance had decided to split his own with him. They had been best buds ever since, and the park was their favorite place to reconvene and play a nice game of adventurers after a long week of being first graders.

            They had just been in the middle of exploring the great, vast desert that was the wood chip coated playground, when Hunk pointed out that the ice cream truck was beginning to make its rounds through the park. 

            With their mother's help, the two of them had gotten into the habit of taking turns getting ice cream for the other each week they played at the park. This time it was Hunk's turn. 

            "I'll go get in line! What do you want?" He asked, and Lance thought for a moment before simply shrugging.

            "Surprise me! Just make it something fruity!" He declared with a grin and Hunk nodded, going over to join the crowd of kids that had begun to swarm around the now parked ice cream truck. 

            The line was getting pretty big, so it would be a little while before Hunk came back with their frozen treats.

            Lance began to wander the playground, trying to pass the time on his own. He had just gone about three rounds on the monkey bars when he noticed something peeking out from behind the small brick building nearby where the bathroom's and water fountains were. 

            Whatever it was vanished a moment later, and he wouldn’t have thought anything of it had the figure not reappeared once he’d made it across the monkey bars a fourth time. 

            It looked to be a boy with pale skin and black hair, probably around his age. He appeared to be using the brick wall to hide from something, but from what, Lance hadn't the slightest idea. 

            If the kid was playing hide n' seek, he was very very bad at it.

            The boy disappeared again, and Lance dropped from the monkey bars, walking over to the building and approaching the wall with the same ninja-like stealth he used to steal gum from his big sister's purse.

            Lance was about to turn the corner, when the boy peered around the wall once more. 

            Keith immediately cried out in surprise, nearly jumping out of his skin at the sight of the other boy standing immediately in front of him. 

            Lance was hardly phased. 

            "What are you doing?" He asked curiously. 

            Keith didn't answer him, looking over the other's shoulder nervously before grabbing Lance's arm and yanking him into his hiding spot behind the wall.

            "Be careful! She'll see us!" He urged, and Lance's curiosity was only further peaked.

            "Who'll see us?"

            "That...urgh...that girl. Ezzy? I think that's her name..." This time when Keith peeked around the wall again, Lance followed, trying to discern who exactly he was looking at.

            Keith pointed helpfully, and Lance finally took notice of a girl, probably a year old than them, with tan skin and long auburn hair tied in a high ponytail with a fluffy scrunchy. She didn't seem very intimidating, but then again neither was his Mom, and he knew how scary she could get when she was mad.

            "Why are you hiding from her?"

            Keith pulled back behind the wall and Lance quickly followed, standing by him shoulder to shoulder.

            "I found a bracelet...and I thought she might have dropped it, so I gave it to her. Then she said I had to be her boyfriend because I gave her a gift!" Keith looked genuinely distressed by this, and Lance tried to appear sympathetic as the other boy buried his face in his hands. "She won't leave me alone..."

            Lance made every attempt to imagine what it must be like to be someone's boyfriend, but he couldn't. Most girls in his class tended to ignore him because they thought he was annoying.

            "Have you told her you don't want to be her boyfriend?" 

            "I tried!" Keith looked up at Lance again, suddenly frustrated. "She won't listen! She keeps holding my hand and trying to kiss me! I don't know how to make her go away!"

            "Okay okay!" Lance held up his hands to appease the other boy's anger and pat him on the shoulder. "Maybe she'll forget about it once you both go home."

            "We go to the same school."

            "Oh..."

            The two fell silent, both trying to think of some sort of plan to help Keith out of his situation. After a minute, Lance suddenly clapped his hands and grinned, delighted with his brilliant idea.

            "I know! Just be super gross and loud! Girls hate it when boys are gross and loud!"

            Keith didn't look too convinced. 

            "Are you sure that will work?"

            Lance nodded and poked his head around the wall to try and locate Ezzy.

            "Yeah! Just make fart sounds or something and---uh oh."

            "What? What's wrong?" Keith peered around the wall for a split second, only to see Ezzy was walking right towards them with eerily sweet smile on her face. 

            Lance jerked them both behind the wall again, but it was too late.

            They had been spotted.

            "Oh geez, what do we do?!" Lance asked, suddenly just as panicked as Keith.

            "I don't know--let's run!" Keith had just grabbed Lance's hand to make a break for it, when Ezzy rounded the corner and promptly blocked their exit.

            Lance noticed she was a lot taller up close, and he had a feeling trying to run in any direction wouldn't put much distance between them and her for very long.

            "Hey, what are you doing over here sweetheart? You're supposed to spend time with me, you're my boyfriend!" She scolded, pouting at Keith and completely ignoring Lance's presence.

            "I'm not your boyfriend!" Keith snapped.

            Ezzy rolled her eyes.

            "Don't be silly, come on, let's go get ice cream!"

            She went to grab Keith's free hand, but he pulled it away and gripped Lance's hand harder.

            "He doesn't like you!" Lance suddenly defended, seeming to take the hand holding as his cue to speak up.

            Ezzy finally looked over at him, glaring in a way that made them both shudder.

            "How would you know?"

            "Because he--" 

            Lance didn't get to finish his sentence, because Keith had suddenly grabbed his face and shoved their lips together so hard their teeth clicked.

            "Wha--" Ezzy seemed at a loss for words but Lance couldn't see her around Keith's face pressed up against his. While Lance's eyes were wide with surprise, Keith's were screwed shut, almost as if he was scared to see what he was doing.

            "Oww..." Lance complained when Keith finally let him go, rubbing his lips, which were quite sore from the sudden collision.

            "You--how could you?! You're supposed to kiss me, you jerk! You're the worst boyfriend ever!" Ezzy shouted angrily, throwing something at Keith's head that swiftly bounced off and clattered to the dirty cement floor. 

            Lance watched Ezzy storm off and looked back at Keith who had picked the plastic beaded bracelet off the ground and was holding it out to him.

            "You want it?"

            Everything that happened finally seemed to set in, and Lance suddenly pulled back from the bracelet like Keith was offering him a venomous snake.

            "No I don't want it! Why did you do that?! You kissed me! That's so gross..." he whined, wiping his mouth and tongue dramatically on the hem of his shirt.

            Keith threw up his arms in equally dramatic fashion.

            "I panicked, okay?! Besides, at least it worked, right?" He argued, getting embarrassed and defensive now that the fight or flight response was waning. "It's not like it meant anything, so who cares?"

            "Who cares?! That was my first kiss!"

            "Well if it matters so much, then pretend it didn't count!"

            "Pretend?! I can't just...you.... you're such a butthead!" Lance yelled loudly, catching the attention of a few kids who turned to watch as the boy stormed his way back onto the playground, rubbing his mouth and grumbling under his breath. 

            The sight of Hunk coming towards him with watermelon ice pops made Lance smile again.

            Hopefully sticky popsicle juice would remove all the evidence of Keith's lips from his mouth.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pull me in for a kiss! This was a fun one to do. I love writing for little kids.
> 
> Yes Ezzy is Ezor.


	3. Kiss Me Goodnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I walked away from the group.”
> 
> “You what?!” [...]
> 
> “I got bored and wanted to see the cliff-side, so I went on my own”
> 
> “But—You aren’t supposed to leave the group! You got yourself in this mess! Are you an idiot?!”
> 
> “Do you ever shut up?!”

 

 

\-------------------------------------- 

~ When they were 10, they learned each other’s names ~

 --------------------------------------

 

            If Keith had to pick anywhere in the world he would rather be, he wouldn’t have been able to.

            This was perfect. Standing on a mountain, surrounded by nature. Alone and at peace.

            Yes, he was lost, but he couldn’t seem to find any reason to be worried. All he had to do was keep walking towards the base of the mountain and he would find his fellow campers eventually.

            Summer camp was a blessing in disguise. 

            Keith had originally been rather disdainful of the idea of leaving his home to spend two weeks alone with a bunch of other kids his age that he didn’t know or like. He wasn’t exactly social, and preferred solitude whenever he could get it.

            It just so happened that solitude wasn’t really hard to find in the middle of a forest. 

            “Hello??!! Anybody!!!” 

            Well.

            It wasn’t exactly _easy_ to find either. 

            Keith paused where he had been hiking down the dirt path, looking around for where the panicked voice might have come from. He was answered a moment later when a boy his age stumbled out of the bushes nearby, covered in leaves and with his back-pack hanging half open. 

            Keith recognized this boy, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing. The kid had basically been antagonizing him and the rest of his cabin mates since they had arrived last week.

            If he had any major complaints about the camp, it was the stupid Wilderness Tournament they held.  The camp was divided into five different cabins for convenience, and apparently it was tradition for these cabins to make team names for themselves and then compete in different events to win some trophy at the end of their two week stay.

            Keith was a part of the Fire Blade cabin, and this boy was a part of the Blue Lions. Unbeknownst to Keith, these two camps had managed to become sworn enemies in a matter of days. Both cabins had won a majority of the events so far, with the Blades currently leading over the Lions by one.

            “Hey.” He greeted casually, and the boy turned his gaze to him, relief instantly flooding his features

            “Oh good! I was seriously scared I was gonna be lost forever! I—“ he suddenly stopped talking when he noticed Keith’s red wrist band, symbolizing which cabin he was in. His own wrist band was blue. 

            “Oh great. Not one of you Blade jerks...” 

            Keith rolled his eyes.

            He would have been lying if he said he wasn’t competitive, but Keith wasn’t really a fan of unnecessary rivalry. He just wanted to enjoy this time to himself. But this kid had been hell-bent on hating anyone from Fire Blade and making sure everyone knew how much more awesome his cabin was. Of course, that was a sentiment most of the Blue Lions reflected, but this boy was much more vocal and much more annoying about it. 

            Part of Keith hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that he knew the kid from somewhere else, but he had a feeling he’d remember if someone so loud and obnoxious went to his school.

            “I have a name you know.” 

            “Yeah? That’s great. I’m gonna go look for someone else.” He said, face upturned and smug as he started to walk away. Keith stared after him.

            “There’s no one else around here. I’ve checked.”

            The other boy paused and looked back at him, his scowl doing very little to hide the panic in his eyes.

            “What do you mean?”

            “I mean we’re lost.”

            “But—! I just went for a pee! The others said they would wait for me!” He immediately protested, to which Keith just shrugged.

            “Guess they didn’t.”

            Lion boy deflated rather suddenly, and Keith was overcome with unexpected guilt.

            He was so used to seeing the kid putting on a cocky bravado, that the moment his face fell, it was jarring. 

            “My cabin forgot me too. It’s okay. There are a lot of kids to keep track of.” 

            The other didn’t look very consoled, but he walked back over to Keith none the less.

            “I guess. Can’t believe I got lost with a Blade...ugh.” 

            “My name’s Keith.” He supplied, genuinely starting to get rather annoyed with being called a ‘Blade’.

            Lion boy looked him up and down, seeming to deliberate with himself for a moment before giving in. 

            “I’m Lance. How’d you get lost anyways?”

            Keith started back on the path.

            “I walked away from the group.”

            “You what?!” Lance stumbled after Keith to catch up, clumsily adjusting his backpack and not bothering to conceal his disbelief.

            “I got bored and wanted to see the cliff-side, so I went on my own”

            “But—You aren’t supposed to leave the group! You got yourself in this mess! Are you an idiot?!”

            “Do you ever shut up?!” 

            The two boys stopped walking and glared at one another, before seeming to reach an unspoken agreement and continuing on in huffy silence. 

            They had to make it back to camp before night fall and although they didn’t see each other as the most ideal company, neither of them _really_ wanted to be alone at the moment. 

            At some point in the hike, Lance had taken out the wilderness guidebook that each of the campers were given at the very beginning. It came with a map of the mountain and some basic information about different plants and wildlife in the area. Keith had half expected him to start looking at the map, but instead he began to pick any flowers along the path that caught his interest and stick them between the pages. 

            “What are you doing? You’re supposed to read that.”

            “I already did. Besides, my buddy Hunk has it memorized by heart. If I need to know anything, he can tell me.”

            “If he’s your friend, why didn’t Hunk wait for you?

            “He’s in the Boulder Buddies cabin.” 

            “Ah.”

            Boulder Buddies was another of the five cabins the kids had been divided into. The only challenge that team had won so far was the cooking one.

            Determining that they still had an hour or two before the sun fully set, the two of them eventually decided to take a snack break, sitting beside each other against the trunk of a large pine tree munching away on the earlier supplied granola and trail mix.

            Lance started to flip through his wilderness guide, revealing nearly every page to have some form of colorful foliage sticking out of the binding. It was actually a rather impressive collection. A flash of something shiny and vibrant blue caught Keith’s eyes.

            “What’s that?” 

            Lance paused and flipped back a page, grinning when he saw what Keith was asking about. He very carefully plucked the thin piece of blue from the book, and held it up to reveal it as a lone butterfly wing.

            “Neat huh? This is my treasure! I found it the first day we got here, right outside my cabin!”

            “It’s cool.” Keith admitted. The two looked at the rest of Lance’s collection, which was everything from maple leaves to chrysanthemums.

            When they finished, Lance put the guide away and Keith took out his own, so they could observe the map as they walked. 

            They continued down the mountain for another hour, and by then Lance had begun to panic again. It was getting dark and they still hadn’t found any sign of the others. When comparing their surroundings to the map, Keith noticed that no man-made structures were around them, and he’d had the idea go east to try and find the right path again. Unfortunately, they’d gotten no closer to their goal since.

            “Hey Keith...do you think we’re getting close?”

            “Not sure.”

            “Okay....”

            “.....”

            “It’s getting dark out.” 

            “I know.”

            “Aren’t you scared?”

            “No? Why would I be? I’m not a baby.”

            Keith immediately wished he hadn’t said that. 

            Judging from the silence on Lance’s end, he’d said something hurtful again. It wasn’t as if he was trying to be mean! He just...wasn’t good with other kids.

            “We’ll be fine. I’m sure the counselors have noticed our absence and are looking for us right now. Just keep an ear out for any voices.” 

            Another hour passed in silence. 

            A chill had descended over the air and darkness was slowly consuming the spaces between the trees.

            The sun had finally set.

            Keith decided to admit defeat.

            “We should find some place to make camp for the night. It’ll be too dark to see soon.” He said, pausing to take stock of their surroundings. 

            “We’re stopping?! We can’t stop! No way I’m sleeping on the ground when I have a perfectly good bed waiting for me in my cabin!”

            “If you want to keep going, be my guest.” 

            Lance tensed up, fists clenched at his side as he glared at Keith with as much anger and frustration he could muster. 

            “This is all your fault! We should have never turned back there!”

            “Well you sure didn’t try to help navigating! Maybe if your map book wasn’t so full of flowers and crap, you could be useful!” 

            Lance looked on the verge of tears and he stamped his foot on the ground. 

            “I was right!  All you Blades are jerks!”

            “Well all of you Lions are idiots!”

            “Screw you!” 

            Lance spun on his heel and stormed away, leaving Keith standing there for a moment before he too started to storm off in the other direction. 

            It took about twenty minutes of trudging along for Keith to burn off his irritation, and he soon realized that he’d messed up. Maybe leaving the only other person out there with him alone in the woods at night wasn’t a good idea. 

            And maybe he had been a bit of a jerk. 

            He turned and started to walk back. By the time he was back where they had parted ways, he could feel rain beginning to dampen his shirt and shorts. 

            Keith started to run.

            “Lance! Lance where are you?!” 

            Keith was actually beginning to feel afraid now, because what if he couldn’t find him? What if something happened to Lance and it was his fault? 

            He tried not to let these thoughts cloud his focus as he ran through the now heavy rain fall. Between the storm and the onset of night around him, he could barely see a thing; he would never be able to see Lance in this! His heart was racing, and he stopped running to turn in a circle, trying to gauge which way was north or south; desperately seeking any omen that would tell him where to go.

            “Lance!!!” 

            Keith started running again, panic gripping him tight. He nearly missed the rocky outcrop in his haste. Nearly ran right past the boy tucked underneath. If it weren’t for the familiar flash of blue, just the glint of Lance’s wristband, he would have glanced over him entirely.

            Keith had never been so relieved, and he hurried over to the outcrop, quickly crawling into the shelter with him. He panted and gasped as he struggled to catch his breath, finally turning his attention to Lance when he had enough to speak.

            “There you are —- geez why didn’t you respond to me?!” Keith snapped, his now soaking wet state making him more bitey and irritable. He was close to yelling when the other boy didn’t respond, but stopped when Lance looked up at him. 

            His face was flushed red and his eyes were puffy and damp with tears. Keith looked away awkwardly, unsure what to say. He’d caused that. He’d made him cry... he needed to apologize.

            “Lance... I— “

            “What if they never find us?” 

            The question caught Keith off guard, and he looked back up at the other boy. 

            “What are you saying?”

            “What if they forgot us?”

            “They didn’t forget us.”

            “How do you know?”

            Keith sighed heavily and began to unpack his backpack. Seeing as he hadn’t planned for an impromptu night under the stars, all he had was an emergency thermal blanket his Dad has packed him. He pulled it out and draped it over both their shoulders as he settled beside Lance to watch the rain fall.

            “I just know, ok? We’ll be fine. We’ll sleep here, go down tomorrow, and everything will be ok.” 

            Lance still didn’t seem fully convinced but he looked a little less on the verge of more tears.

            “Okay.” 

            The two boys sat in comfortable silence, watching the rain fall and letting the calm numb their anxieties. When his clothes felt a bit dryer, Keith opted that they get some rest. They could share the blanket and use their backpacks as makeshift pillows. It wouldn’t be the most comfortable thing, but they didn't exactly have many options available.

            They laid down next to each other, and Keith pulled the thermal blanket over the two of them. Where Lance would have argued or said something dumb about having to sleep next to a ‘Blade jerk’, he was silent. He didn’t seem to have the energy to get riled up anymore. 

            Keith closed his eyes and tried to relax. 

            “My mom loves flowers.” 

            When Lance spoke, Keith opened his eyes and turned towards him. The other boy just stared up the rocky overhang.

            “That’s why I was collecting them. I wanted to make her a collage.”

            Keith smiled solemnly at that. He’d never had a mom to collect flowers for. He wondered what that must be like, making something beautiful like that for a parent. His Dad wasn’t exactly the flower type. 

            “I’m sure she’ll love it.” 

            “Yeah...” more silence. Keith closed his eyes again and ventured for sleep when Lance spoke up once more.

            “I miss her.” 

            That confused Keith.

            “You’ll see her in a week.”

            “I know but...” Lance swallowed and reached up to rub at his eyes. “I just... if they don’t find us... I won’t ever get to eat her tamales... or feel her hugs... or have her kiss me goodnight...” his voice had become watery and he suddenly turned away from Keith, trying to hide himself.

            Lance was a bit of a mama’s boy it seemed, but Keith didn’t judge him for it. He even wondered if he would have been one too, given the chance.

            He could hear the other trying and failing to hold in his sobs, and it made something in Keith twist up in remorse. 

            Without really thinking, he leaned over and gently pressed a kiss to the other boy’s temple.

            Lance stopped crying almost instantly, and Keith immediately pulled back, scared that he had done something weird or wrong.

            That probably wasn’t the right thing to do.

            There was a giggle from beside him, and Keith blushed heavily as Lance turned to look at him.

            “Is that how you say sorry?”

            “I... in a way.”

            Lance grinned 

            “You’re weird.” 

            Keith would have argued, but Lance had reached out and grasped his hand a moment later, kissing his knuckles in return.

            “I’m sorry too.”

            Keith smiled at that and pressed a bit closer to Lance, the rain shrouding the boys in pleasant sleepiness. He had closed his eyes and was right on the edge of drifting off when Lance spoke again. He couldn’t muster up much of a response.

           “Keith?”

           “Mm?” 

           “Thanks.”  

           Keith hummed and pressed their foreheads together in reply. Then there was nothing but peace.

           The boys were woken at 5 in the morning to two rain-soaked counselors calling out their names. 

           They were each given long lectures about never wandering off alone and being responsible for your own safety the entire walk back down the mountain. Lance groaned a mimicked the counselors behind their backs the whole time. Keith struggled not to laugh. When they finally returned to camp, the two went their separate ways without so much as a goodbye.

           The Fire Blades ended up winning the Wilderness Tournament. Lance made sure to complain about how they cheated loudly at the closing ceremonies.

           When Keith got home, he told his Dad about how he’d gotten lost with an annoying boy that made him laugh. He’d opened his wilderness guidebook to show him the map of the mountain when something shiny and blue fell out and fluttered to the floor. 

           Keith smiled and gently tucked the butterfly wing back into the binding of his guidebook, just for safe keeping.

 

\-----------------------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo it's been a while since I updated. School's been a bit rough but now that I'm off I plan to focus on writing more.
> 
> Lost in the woods is such a fun trope, I love these dorks!


	4. Let Me Wear Your Clothes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That made Lance look up at him, though he still kept most of his face hidden in the crook of his arms. He quickly gave the other boy glance over before seeming realize who was in front of him.
> 
> “Keith...?”
> 
> Keith smiled fondly when Lance said his name. [...]
> 
> “It’s been a while.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: underage smoking and mild homophobic language

 

 

 --------------------------------------

~ When they were 13, Keith saved Lance. ~

\-------------------------------------- 

 

            When you lived in a small town, the community often tended to come together over the most minor of things.

            In this case, local school football games were almost as big as Christmas. 

            Seeing as Keith wasn’t a big fan of these games, he opted to spend his time loitering outside the stadium walls, well out of sight of the field or the gathered spectators on either side of the pitch. 

            He was forced to come and watch this particular game because his cousin Shiro had made quarterback of his high school team and Keith’s Dad made a point of supporting what family they had left.

            It wasn’t that Keith didn’t like Shiro, quite the contrary. He considered him his closest friend. But that didn’t exactly make loud, obnoxious screaming fans any more tolerable. 

            Keith took out a damp, smashed up cigarette box from the pocket of his black jacket and shook out a cig. If a teacher caught him doing this he would probably be given immediate detention or even suspension. He couldn’t really find any reason to care. His Dad certainly saw no reason not to be constantly smoking around him, so it was only natural he pick it up too.

            Of course, stealing from his father’s supply was another matter. 

            Keith took out his lighter and flicked it a few times before finally getting a flame going and holding it to the end of the cigarette in his mouth.

            He’d been doing this for about two weeks and had only just managed to get over the initial burn and awful taste. He hadn’t understood the appeal at first, but he supposed there was something relaxing in inhaling carcinogens and slowly dying on the spot. 

            Though it was muffled, Keith could hear the crowd standing on their feet and shrieking about something, and he assumed this meant that the home team had finally managed to score. He was tempted to take a glance and see if Shiro had made the winning play, but he retracted that thought when he heard footsteps rapidly approaching him. 

            He quickly tucked himself into the alcove where the water fountains resided and promptly threw the barely smoked cigarette to the ground to stamp it out.

            Keith had been so sure it was a teacher that when the figure suddenly sped right by him, he wasn’t even sure he’d seen it. He leaned out and watched as what looked to be a boy around his age sprinted away from the stadium, over the small field separating it from the high school, and back through the double doors of the building. 

            He was tempted to just ignore it but from that single glance alone, Keith couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew the kid from somewhere. Not to mention, and he may have been mistaken, but he could have sworn he heard him crying.

            Keith wasn’t one to get involved with other people’s emotions, so even _he_ couldn’t explain why he left his usual moping spot on the wall and followed the boy into the school building.  He didn’t immediately see the kid when he went inside, and he took a few cautious steps in to try and look around the vacant halls. 

            He was just about to turn around and go back outside when the sole of his shoe squeaked and nearly slipped out from under him. He staggered back a bit to see a small puddle of water on the linoleum floor.

            What...?

            Looking closer, Keith saw a continuous sheen of water trailing off to the side and started to follow it down a large hallway lined with lockers and classrooms. He walked alongside the wet path till he reached a much larger set of doors near the very end. 

            Peering in, Keith could see this was the high school gymnasium. The water trail went all the way across the room and over to another door labeled ‘Boy’s Locker Room.’ He only found himself hesitating when he had his hand on the door handle.

            This really wasn’t his business. 

            What if the guy wanted to be left alone? He really hated being around people when they cried...as if on cue, Keith could hear a faint sob coming from the other side of the door.

            He opened it without thinking. 

            Keith barely had time to dodge the flash of something gold being lobbed at his head and he just managed to side step out of the way as the small metallic tube hit the closing door behind him.

            “Hey—watch it!” He snapped, turning back to his assailant and feeling his irritation almost immediately dry up. 

            He’d been right. He did know the kid.

            He’d seen those weepy blue eyes before, and the same lanky body tucked into a tight fetal position with his head between his knees.

            Only the two of them weren’t lost in the forest this time.

            “Lance...?” 

            Keith took a cautious step forward but froze when the other flinched away from him almost as if he expected to be hurt. 

            “Get out.” 

            Lance’s voice came out dull and low and Keith was temporarily stunned by such a harsh sound coming out of someone he remembered as being so loud and happy. 

            Then again, it had been three years since they’d last seen each other. 

            Keith could plainly see he wasn’t wanted there and he turned to go, only to step on the same small tube that had been thrown at his head. He leaned down to pick it up and noticed it was a tube of lipstick as he turned it over in his fingers a few times. He could hear faint hiccupping behind him. 

            Things were starting to click into place. Keith turned and went back over to Lance, kneeling down in front of him. 

            “Why are you all wet?”

            Wet was an understatement. Lance was soaked to the bone as if he had been thrown straight into a pool. 

            “None of your business.” Lance said, his voice muffled in his knees where he continued to hide his face. 

            Keith sighed and crossed his legs, deciding to get himself comfortable because god knows he would be there a while. 

            “Look. You might not remember me too well. We met at summer camp a few years back. But if you do remember me, you’ll know I’m not going anywhere till you tell me what’s wrong.”

            That made Lance look up at him, though he still kept most of his face hidden in the crook of his arms. He quickly gave the other boy glance over before seeming realize who was in front of him.

            “Keith...?”

            Keith smiled fondly when Lance said his name. Not only did he remember, but his voice sounded more like himself; softer and kinder. 

            “It’s been a while.” 

            Lance smiled a bit and wiped his tears away roughly with the back of his hand.

            “Never seen you at any of the games before.” He mumbled, and Keith shrugged.

            “My cousin just made quarterback for Kerbrowski High. I thought I should see his first game. Though it’s not typically my scene.”

            Lance giggled.

            “Course it’s not...if you’re not at Alten middle school then you must go to Galrainy. No one likes sports there.” Keith huffed and rolled his eyes. 

            “Are you always going to bad mouth every group I’m a part of.”

            “Probably.” 

            The two of them laughed at that but when the giggles died out, Keith got serious again.

            “Lance, seriously. What happened?” 

            Lance went quiet and Keith was almost scared he would be told to go away again. But then the other relented. 

            “Some jerks from Marmora High. They go by Haxus and Sendak. They...I... it’s stupid...Corina lied to me.”

            “Corina?”

            “My big sister. She said that boys could wear make-up too. And I believed her...so she gave me a tube of lipstick and I decided to wear it today. I thought calling me a ‘queer’ would be enough but...they stole a water cooler from the game and dumped it on me. I should have seen this coming...”

            Keith looked at the tube he’d picked up and then up at Lance who had started to wipe at his mouth angrily with his forearm.

            Keith instinctively reached out, grasping his wrist to stop him. He pulled Lance’s hand away and cupped his cheek with the other, tilting his chin up to better see the purple-red smear on his lips in the low lighting of the locker rooms.

            “I like it.” He said genuinely, and Lance’s eyes widened a bit. 

            “The color looks good with your skin tone. And it contrasts your eyes.” Lance looked away at that, his cheeks darkening, and Keith could see he looked vaguely uncomfortable. He felt water dripping on his hands from the boy’s damp hair and he recalled that he was still soaked. 

            Keith looked around for a moment, as if expecting to find fresh clothes sitting neatly folded on the benches nearby, but of course there was nothing but the occasional abandoned gym sock. Keith pulled back and quickly took off his jacket and the black punk band t-shirt he had on underneath.

            “Here, put this on before you get sick.” He said. Lance didn’t immediately move, watching Keith remove his clothes and seeming momentarily awestruck. 

            “W-woah man you really don’t have to—! Seriously!” Lance reached out to stop him, but Keith caught his hand again and pulled the other forward.

            “I already am. Get over it.” 

            He helped Lance out of his sopping shirt and tossed it aside where it made a wet slap on the tile. Lance put on Keith’s shirt, which fit him well enough but was a little bit too short. 

            Thanks to his selective memory, Keith managed to recall which locker was Shiro’s and he quickly picked the lock with a paper clip he found. Another questionable trait he’d learned from his father.  

            He didn’t find any spare shirts for himself inside but there were Shiro’s basketball shorts he’d been wearing that day before changing for the game. He would just have to explain the situation to his cousin when he went to look for them later. Shiro was nice, he’d understand.

            Keith tossed the shorts at Lance and kept his back turned while the other removed his underwear and pants before putting them on.

            “Uh...these are kinda huge.”

            “Well yeah they belong to a high schooler. Here...” Keith pulled a stretchy hair tie from around his wrist and gave it to Lance, so he could tie up the sides. 

            “Hah! I knew it!”

            Keith blinked. 

            “Knew what?”

            “There’s no way a dude with emo hair like yours didn’t pull it up!”

            Keith rolled his eyes. 

            “Shut up, my hair isn’t emo.”

            “Yes it is.” Keith didn’t argue this further, letting Lance situate himself properly while he put on his jacket again and zipped it up so no one could tell he was shirtless underneath.

            “Look, if anyone says boys can’t wear make-up then they clearly weren’t raised right. It’s their loss. If you like it, do what you want.”

            “Yeah not the best advice when doing what I want ends with me drenched at a football game.” Lance pointed out, bunching up his wet clothes and putting them in the plastic grocery back Keith supplied from Shiro’s locker.

            “Well no, I guess not...”

            “But I get what you’re saying. I guess I’ll just have to be more careful.” Lance mumbled, shrugging. “Just do it at home with my sisters or something.” 

            Keith frowned at that. He truly wished there was something more he could say to cheer Lance up, but he was right. 

            Sometimes the world was too cruel to do what made you happy. 

            Keith pulled the lipstick tube from where he’d pocketed it earlier, holding it out to the other boy. Lance shook his head.

            “Toss it. Once lipstick gets wet it’s basically useless. I can steal more from Corina later.” He grinned, and the smile immediately put Keith at ease. 

            “How did you even find me?” Lance asked as they walked out of the locker rooms together. As if to answer this, there was a loud squeak as his sneaker slipped on the wet floor. Keith just barely caught his arm before he could hit the ground, carefully helping to pull Lance to his feet by his elbows. 

            “You left a bit of a trail.” 

            Lance laughed and followed Keith through the halls and back towards the doors that lead out to the stadium. 

            “How did you know where to go?” Keith asked, mostly to fill the silence. Lance smiled and shrugged. 

            “Like I said, I’ve been going to the Kerbrowski High games for a while. My friend’s older brother goes here too. But...football is kinda boring. So, I’ve wandered around most of this place. You should see the theatre they have here, it’s huge!”

            Lance’s excitement made Keith laugh and shake his head. He had forgotten what it was like to be around someone so genuinely happy.

            “Can I ask you one more thing?” Lance looked at him hesitantly and Keith shrugged.

            “You’re gonna ask anyways. Shoot.” 

            “Why did you follow me?”

            Keith actually had to stop and think about that. He paused where they’d been walking out to the stadium and thought back to three years before, a quiet nostalgia creeping across his features. 

            “Because last time I didn’t, I nearly lost you in the woods.”

            He looked over at Lance and smiled at his obvious surprise.

            “I think I’ve learned from my mistakes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I haven't forgotten about this fic, you have no idea how busy I've been. I love writing these boys too much to abandon them.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a part of the Klance Writing Event someone started on Voltron amino. 
> 
> God knows if anyone else is actually participating in this but I've decided to. 
> 
> Every week has a prompt and it goes on for 13 weeks total. Me being extra, I decided to make a 13 chapter story out of this while still following the prompts for each.
> 
> We'll see how that goes.
> 
> It's been decently popular on the amino so I figured I may as well start posting it here.
> 
> If you like suburban Klance fluff I got you.


End file.
